Schools Can Help Address Mental Health Issues
- The mission on the public schools is to educate all students. However, children with serious emotional disturbances have the highest rates of school failure. School is where children spend the majority of their time each day. Mental health is essential to learning as well as to social and emotional development. Because of the important interplay between emotional health and school success, schools and mental health providers can work together to improve the success of our children.
- Schools are in a key position to identify mental health problems and provide a link to appropriate services.
- Early detection and treatment of mental disorders can result in substantially shorter and less disabling course of illness. As the mental health field becomes increasingly able to identify the early antecedents of mental illnesses at any age, interventions can be implemented in multiple settings and connected to treatment and support.
Schools Have the Ability to Play a Larger Role in Mental Health Care for Children
- Growing evidence shows that school mental health programs improve educational outcomes by decreasing absences, decreasing discipline referrals and improving test scores.
- Quality screening and early intervention can occur in a readily accessible, low stigma setting.
- Principals, teachers, or guidance team can arrange school based services after recognizing the existence of a mental health problem.
- The connection between mental health problems and school attendance, discipline problems and academic performance is real. As public schools in Ohio are expected to meet higher performance standards, expanding school mental health programs is vital to helping schools to carry out their mission to educated young people.
430 Franklin Street Warren, Ohio 44483
The Renaissance Family Center, Windham Ohio 44288
Telephone (330) 372-2200 Fax (330) 372-2600
